elsewhereMostly landscape and cityscape paintings. For a tag cloud of the painters see bottom of the page. Because the tag cloud allows only 45 names, all the painters are are included in the category list at bottom of the page.

The Vladimir Road, or ‘Vladimirka’ as it was commonly known, was the infamous route by which those condemned to Siberian exile travelled. In May 1892 Levitan and the artist Sofia Kuvshinnikova were living in the village of Gorodok, near Boldino, in Vladimirskaya Province about 160 kilometres north east of Moscow. It was here that Levitan conceived the painting and completed his first sketches. Kuvshinnikova’s memoirs describe its genesis:

“One day, returning from the hunt, Levitan and I happened across the old Vladimir Road, a scene filled with quiet charm; a long strip of road … running through villages and heading into the blue remoteness. In the distance two churchgoers, and an old dilapidated building with a weather-beaten icon that spoke of an age long forgotten. Everything looked so comfortable, so welcoming. Then suddenly Levitan recalled what road this was … the Vladimir Road, the very same highway along which the clinking of shackles was once heard, as all those unfortunate souls made their way to Siberia … and that quiet poetic scene was suddenly shot through with a profound undercurrent of melancholy.” (http://www.nationalmuseum.se/sv/English-startpage/About-us/Press-and-Media/Press-images/Peredvizjniki–banbrytare-i-ryskt-maleri/Isaak-Levitan-Vagen-till-Vladimir-1892)